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Combustion Laboratory

The Combustion Laboratory, established in 1993, focuses on the behavior of chlorine,
sulfur, and mercury during combustion. Since the construction of the 0.1MWth laboratory
scale fluidized-bed combustor (FBC system) in 1995, over a half million dollars in
research funding have been received from the U.S. Department of Energy, EPRI, the
Illinois Clean Coal Institute, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The FBC system
has been involved in over 8000 hours of testing. This amount of testing time is the
longest that has been conducted by any university FBC system in the United States.

The Combustion Laboratory was also awarded a two million dollar grant from the U.S.
Department of Energy for their project on "Establishment of an Environmental Control
Technology Laboratory with a Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion System" in the year
2004. The primary objective of this project is to establish an Environmental Control
Technology Laboratory (ECTL) using a multi-functional circulating fluidized bed combustion
(CFBC) system. The system can be easily configured to make combustion runs with various
fuels (such as coal, coal fine, biomass, solid wastes and RDF) under varying conditions
to analyze and monitor air pollutant emissions, as requested by the lab’s industrial
partners. The successful development of these technologies will provide scientific
data on atmospheric pollutants resulting from combustion systems and the methodologies
required to reduce the emission of these pollutants across the United States.

Since 2002, the Combustion Laboratory has been participating in an ongoing carbon
dioxide (CO2) sequestration research project using an aqueous ammonia scrubbing technology
with China and other countries. CO2 produced from combustion sources, such as fossil
fuel-fired power plants, is captured from the flue gas. The CO2 reacts with aqueous
ammonia to form ammonium bicarbonate (ABC), which can act as a “CO2 carrier” to “transport”
CO2 from the combustion of fossil fuels to soil structure and crops in the farmlands
due to its water solubility. ICSET scientists have investigated the fate of carbon
distribution after the ABC fertilizer is applied to soil. It was found that a considerable
amount (up to 10%) of the carbon source is absorbed by plants with increased biomass
production. The majority of the unused carbon source (up to 76%) percolated into the
aquifer to form stable carbonates. Of those 76% carbon, up to 88% was in the form
of insoluble salts (i.e., CaCO3) in alkaline soils. Ammonia scrubbing in a slipstream
reactor in real flue gas condition is under investigation at the Combustion Laboratory.

The Combustion Laboratory has investigated two approaches aimed at reducing the environmental
impact and human health risk associated with animal confined feeding operations. They
are (1) maximizing beneficial utilization of animal waste and (2) reducing ammonia
emissions from animal feeding operations. Over the past year, ICSET at WKU developed
processes for preparing activated carbon from chicken waste and coal for mercury capture.
Low-cost activated carbon samples were prepared from a co-process of chicken wastes.
Also, a continuous NH3 emission monitoring study of confined feeding operation (CFO)
facilities was carried out using 4 commercially available NH3 monitoring systems.
During a two-week monitoring period, it was found that the concentration of NH3 in
the test poultry house showed an opposite trend to the ambient temperature. High ambient
temperature affected the operation of the venting system, which brought air from outside
of the test facility and resulted in the observed lowering in NH3 concentration due
to dilution.

Kentucky is ranked second in the nation in installed flue gas desulfurization (FGD)
scrubber capacity for coal-fired power plants. As a result, large amounts of FGD by-products
are produced annually. An increase in the utilization of FGD by-products (e.g. agricultural
land application) creates significant economic opportunities for the state of Kentucky.
However, concerns about the release of hazardous elements have inhibited the usage.
The Combustion Laboratory is evaluating the environmental impact associated with land
application of the FGD by-product. In this project, the emission, leaching, and bioaccumulation
of Mercury (Hg) and other environmentally-concerned trace elements (e.g. Arsenic (As),
Selenium (Se), and Chromium (Cr)) from soil, which are amended using FGD by-products,
will be quantitatively and mechanically determined. The benefit of using FGD by-products
in improving plant growth and soil properties will also be systematically demonstrated.

A laboratory scale gasification unit has been constructed at the Combustion Laboratory.
The gasification system has developed a number of important gasification programs,
including Advanced Gasification Syngas Multi-Contaminant Cleanup Technologies and
Novel Gasification Concepts (e.g. chemical looping gasification and co-gasifying coal
with CBM to produce a synthesis gas with an adjustable H2/CO ratio). Additional benefits
may include economical abatement of sulfur emissions and the production of a potential
mercury sorbent. This process is based on some key chemical reaction mechanisms and
their cooperative effects.

Other research projects, “Development for Clean Coal Technology-Horizontal Swirling
Fluidized Bed Boiler,” and “Application of a Circulating Fluidized Bed Process for
the Chemical Looping Combustion of Solid Fuels” are also conducted in this laboratory.

Current Research Projects:

One-step Bio-diesel Production by Synergetic Effect Using Cellulose Biomass and Bio-Oil

Emission Control in the Oxy-fuel Combustion Process

Production of Porous Materials from Waste Coals

Multiple-pollutants Control during Burning of Waste Coals and Solid Wastes in Circulating
Fluidized Bed Process

Co-Gasification of High Sulfur Coal with Coal-bed Methane to Produce Synthesis Gas
with Adjustable H2/CO Contents for Synthesis of Value Added Chemicals